A majority of members of Mechanicsburg Borough
Council has been dissatisfied with the direction of the community's volunteer
recreation board and Tuesday night the council took steps to eliminate the
board.

In two identical 4-2 votes, Borough Council voted to vacate
all five seats on the recreation board and to have Solicitor Lisa Marie Coyne
draft a measure to repeal the ordinance that established the board in 1967.
Council members John McDermott and Rodney Whitcomb cast the dissenting votes.
Council member Linda Humes was absent.

Kyle Miller, who made both motions, said the
recreation board's role is "completely undetermined" and that council "needs to
have greater accountability and oversight" over recreation matters and spending.

Borough Manager Patrick Dennis said it has been difficult
to keep track of some expenses handled by the board and when the borough
accounts are audited the staff sometimes cannot explain how certain bills were paid.

He said it makes more sense to handle all the
financial matters through the borough staff and have the borough's accounting
system track the finances.

Borough Council signaled its dissatisfaction with
the board last year when it curtailed the terms of two members who were up for
reappointment to one year instead of five.

There are two vacancies on the five-member board.

Council also made a major change to the recreation hierarchy
last year when it decided to replace volunteers with elected officials on a
joint recreation commission with Upper Allen Township, Shiremanstown and the Mechanicsburg
Area School Board.

Defending his position to do away with the
recreation board, Miller said "just because we've always done it this way doesn't
mean we have to continue doing it this way."

He and council president J. Matthew Seagrist said
the action wasn't meant in any way to minimize the contributions of the
recreation board, just that it was time to take a different approach.

"I think you made a serious mistake," said resident Gary
Weber, whose wife Lorrie is one of the remaining board members.

He said council took 50 years of hard work "and
flushed it down the toilet."

"If there's a problem, you fix the problem, you don't
erase the problem," he said.

Coyne will draft and advertise the ordinance to
repeal the recreation board. It could be ready for action at council's June 18
meeting.

Related Stories

Featured Story

Get 'Today's Front Page' in your inbox

This newsletter is sent every morning at 6 a.m. and includes the morning's top stories, a full list of obituaries, links to comics and puzzles and the most recent news, sports and entertainment headlines.

optionalCheck here if you do not want to receive additional email offers and information.See our privacy policy

Thank you for signing up for 'Today's Front Page'

To view and subscribe to any of our other newsletters, please click here.